Central Vietnam

Central Vietnam is the country's densest region for heritage and flavour. Along a 200-kilometre coastal corridor, three cities of radically different character follow each other: Hue, the former imperial capital of the Nguyen dynasty, wrapped in an atmosphere of royal courts and Buddhist pagodas; Da Nang, a modern coastal metropolis emerging as Vietnam's fastest-growing city; and Hoi An, the jewel of the coast, a former trading town listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site whose ochre townhouses and thousands of silk lanterns have made it famous on every continent.

But Central Vietnam is also the My Son ruins, a complex of Cham towers built between the 4th and 14th centuries in a jungle-filled valley of the Thu Bon River — Vietnam's Angkor, less overwhelming in scale but unique in their mysterious, overgrown atmosphere. The beaches of Da Nang and Hoi An (My Khe, Non Nuoc, An Bang) are among the finest on mainland Vietnam: fine sand, warm water year-round, quality tourist infrastructure without the overbuilt saturation of resort towns.

The food of central Vietnam is the most inventive and complex in the country. Hoi An produces two of Vietnam's most distinctive dishes: cao lầu (thick wheat noodles, roasted pork and fresh herbs, unique to Hoi An because its preparation requires water from ancient Cham wells) and White Rose dumplings (bánh bao vạc). Hue has its own royal culinary tradition — bún bò Huế (spicy beef and vermicelli soup, bolder than the northern phở), bánh khoái (crispy filled crêpes) and dozens of imperial-court bites. Across the entire region, mì quảng (turmeric-yellow noodles, prawns, roasted peanuts and fresh herbs) is the signature dish of Quảng Nam province.